"Everyone who wants to head south through and over the Gotthard has to pass it: the Bristen"
Daniel wrote this back in 2015 in his impressive tour report on the Bristen. This sentence has been in the back of my mind ever since, but for Niklas and me it always applies to the Rophaien. Every time we drove south, we always took a look (sometimes daring for the driver) at the dominant summit cross of the Rophaien from the highway.
The mountain opens up the chain around the Lidernen area, which is well known to ski tourers in Switzerland. Up to the Blümberg above the Muothatal, there are fashionable mountains such as the Rossstock and the Hagelstock, racy ski tour destinations such as Diepen and Spilauer Stock as well as real winter climbing dorados such as Chronenstock and Chaiserstock. The Lidernenhütte is always fully booked in winter and the fantastic historic cable car in Chäppeliberg demands stoic patience at the weekend before you can float to the top.
A leisurely run-in
Shortly before the cable car, there is a small parking lot on the right, privately provided by a local resident, without an Easypark but with a donation box. Park here to climb up to Rophaien (please always pay!).
At first, you set off at a leisurely pace along the many downhill tracks left in the snow by ski tourists on the frequently used valley descent via Rotenbalm. Don't be put off, shortly after Rotenbalm you can usually get into the tracks, as not many people head in this direction. Past Alplen, the trail climbs steeply up to Alpler See. Behind Riders right, a steep southern flank leads up to the Stöckalp alpine hut. Here you should think about gliding or wet snow throughout the winter. Most of the time it's already down, but if gliding snow is an issue and you can't get up very early, you could also go down along the forest path to Butzen - but this is much longer. Good news: you don't have to go down here anymore.
Down here by the lake, we saw the little shoot on the other side of the lake and immediately changed our plans. After the Rophaien, we really wanted to explore the area above and see if we could get through. Oh yes, we discovered the hidden fridge. But more on that in a moment.
